On March 8, 2013 Emerging Markets ESG published the 52nd interview in the second year of its weekly expert interview series, “Five Questions about SRI.”
The second year of the series included 52 interviews, “Five Questions about SRI,” with academics, experts and practitioners from South Africa (seven), Canada (six), the United States (six), India (four), South Korea (four), the United Kingdom (four), Brazil (three) and 14 other countries: Australia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, China, Hong Kong, Israel, Mauritius, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland and Vietnam.
During the second year of the series, 27 of the experts were from developed markets and 25 were from emerging markets. 15 women and 37 men contributed interviews.
Emerging Markets ESG is pleased that more interviews from emerging markets were published during the second year than during the first year of the series. During the first year of the series, 32 of the experts were from developed markets and 20 were from emerging markets. 16 women and 36 men contributed interviews.
Emerging Markets ESG would like to publish more interviews from female experts and practitioners during the third year of the interview series.
Next week, on Friday, March 22, 2013 Emerging Markets ESG will publish an article analyzing the responses to the 52 interviews published over the previous year. Thus, the article will bear the title “260 Insights about SRI.”
The goals of Five Questions about SRI are fourfold:
- To reflect on what SRI in emerging markets means to practitioners;
- To collect a catalogue of examples of SRI in practice in emerging markets;
- To raise awareness about SRI in emerging markets; and
- To enable SRI practitioners in emerging markets to network with peers around the world.
With these goals as a Leitmotiv, the article will analyze the responses to each of the five questions, aggregated by gender and geography.
The interview series is building a database of knowledge about practitioner’s views on SRI; the distinction between mainstream investment and SRI; challenges faced by companies managing environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues; challenges faced by investors analyzing ESG issues; and recognition of accountability, disclosure and transparency per se as challenges across emerging markets.
The article will also compare the responses from the second year of the series with those from the first year of the series.